Semiconductor devices of this type are disclosed for example in the document US 2002-0001328. The optically pumped surface-emitting semiconductor device described therein comprises a central surface-emitting quantum well structure, downstream of which pump radiation sources are arranged in the lateral direction. The quantum well structure and the pump radiation source are grown epitaxially onto a common substrate.
Two epitaxy steps are generally necessary during the production of such a semiconductor device: in a first epitaxy step, a semiconductor layer sequence for the quantum well structure is grown onto a suitable substrate. Afterwards, a part of this layer sequence is removed marginally, so that only the central quantum well structure remains. A semiconductor layer sequence for the pump radiation source is then grown onto the uncovered regions in a second epitaxy step.
In order to reduce the production effort it would be desirable to be able to dispense with one epitaxy step or to produce a semiconductor device of this type by means of a single epitaxy step. This would reduce in particular the time required for epitaxy, so that the component could be manufactured more rapidly and thus significantly more cost-effectively.
For this purpose, the semiconductor device could be grown onto a patterned, non-planar substrate in one epitaxy step. However, this requires specially made substrates, so that, as a result, although the production outlay for the epitaxial layers decreases, by the same token there is, on the other hand, an increase in the production outlay for the substrates.